40 



he visited farms, and also went to Richmond. He saw how the 

 whole thing comes together. 



We need package approaches. Too often, we'll say — for instance, 

 I go there and I look at the link in the chain that I'm expert in. 

 I ignore the other links in the chain. But it's the entire chain that's 

 necessary, and, unfortunately — and here is where I hope that Mr. 

 Stroke Talbot will be effective. We need to coordinate every action 

 on our side in looking at the entire chain, and, unfortunately, ac- 

 tion needs to be taken on each of these links at the very same time. 



We need people who are visionary, and, sir, I would commend 

 you for the visionary approach that you've taken to these hearings 

 here with the video that we had and then with the telephone hook- 

 up. That was marvelous. But the things that we saw here, don't 

 take for granted. The first thing I noticed was there was a roof out 

 there. It's been only in the last couple of years that roofs for stor- 

 age, open-sided sheds, have been found in Russia. Don't go there 

 and talce our things for granted. 



My time is running out, but you will see in my paper that I have 

 suggested a program which I think could be terribly important. It's 

 a targeted program, and it's one I think that can be undertaken 

 successfully and without backlash, and this thing of backlash that 

 Steve Cohen mentioned in his column in Sunday's Washington Post 

 is awfully important. This is a program that is targeted to take 

 care of crying needs over there. I call it the children's assistance 

 program. It can be broader than that. 



But too many of the children in the Soviet Union, they're not un- 

 dernourished, as in Somalia, but they're malnourished. We could 

 target that, and that would be terribly important, I think, in the 

 long term in creating markets over there. I read a statement just 

 yesterday that said that men being bom today, 34 percent of them 

 will not live to see their pension years, which, for a case of a man, 

 is 60 years old. For each one of those people that we can get to live 

 to 60, 65, or 70 years, think how much American produce goes 

 there. 



There's a lot more that I could say. I'm addicted to the subject, 

 and I'll try to respond to any questions. I can't answer, but I can 

 try to respond. 



[The prepared statement of Mr. Severin appears at the conclu- 

 sion of the hearing.] 



^ Mr. Penny. Well, as a way of extending your period of testimony, 

 I'd like you to elaborate a little more on the children's assistance 

 program and how we would target that, what volume of commodity 

 we're looking at, and who would administer this. Do we work this 

 through private voluntary organizations? How do we make sure 

 that we reach the appropriate population? 



Mr. Severin. I would not only look in Moscow, I would not only 

 look in St. Petersburg. In fact, I would look beyond them to start 

 with. I would go, again, to the regions, like I say, and there are 

 regions out there where there has been a great deal of environ- 

 mental pollution. In west Kazakh, in Aktyubinsk, they say that 40 

 percent of the babies are bom deformed because of the pollution 

 there. There are areas in the former Soviet Union where the moth- 

 ers are advised not to breast feed the babies because of the pollu- 

 tion that they've been subjected to. 



